Women Achievers: JAYASHREE THACKER

She believes in being transparent and stays committed to her work, and tries to evoke similar notions in people who are delivering for the organization.

Jayashree Thacker, President, PerkinElmer India

As President for PerkinElmer India, Jayashree Thacker carries the responsibility for developing and directing strategies to build the PerkinElmer organization, business and brand in India and South Asia, and is accountable for revenue, profitability, growth and market share metrics across 2 business units – Discovery & Analytical Solutions and Diagnostics.

She believes in being transparent and working fairly with everyone in the organization, being committed to her work and trying to evoke similar commitment in people who are delivering for the organization.

Very recently, PerkinElmer India has opened a Centre of Excellence (CoE) at the Indian Institute of Science Education and Research (IISER) Pune, to help educate the region’s current and future scientists on high-throughput analyses in life sciences.

“This collaboration is another step towards supporting the Skill India campaign, which helps researchers and students develop advanced competencies in life sciences research. The opening of this new facility and our collaboration with IISER supports the expansion of PerkinElmer and our relationships with leading research organizations in India, further positioning us to deliver innovative solutions for our customers”, she shared.

Jayashree is a graduate in Pharmacy from the Institute of Chemical Technology (ICT), Mumbai, and a post graduate in Marketing from IIM, Ahmedabad. She has gained rich industry, business consulting, practice and organisation building expertise by leading the Healthcare Industry vertical at IBM India Global Delivery, and the Lifesciences & Healthcare Business Consulting practice at IBM and PricewaterhouseCoopers for the India market.

When she joined PerkinElmer India a little under three years back, her mandate was to build an organization that would be ready to capitalize upon the growth opportunities in the market. “The initial couple of years really went through in getting fundamentals in place – gaining the right competencies, defining policies, business processes, a governance framework and performance metrics, and initiating culture shaping, ” she pointed out. Focus has also been on inorganic growth and she has been part of the team that led the acquisition of Tulip Diagnostics.

With so many things in hand, Thacker’s day typically begins at 6 am. After finishing her morning chores at home, her day goes by in the office till evening. “It is extremely important to have a balanced lifestyle. One should not get distracted while at work. At the same time there are certain things that require your undivided attention in your personal life”, said Jayashree.

For her, the biggest achievement has been in making the organization ready for growth. “Some of the solutions we offer our customers are showing positive growth. Internal challenges have been managed well; and now most of the challenges are external”, Jayashree stated.

She recently accepted the Leadership Award for Contribution to Healthcare at the Healthcare Summit held in Bengaluru. “We are very happy to receive this recognition. It motivates us to continue to innovate for our customers throughout India, with advanced solutions that help protect the environment, the safety of our food, and the health of mothers, newborn babies and their families”, she mentioned.

She was also recently awarded the UAA-ICT Distinguished Alumnus Award in the Professionals category.

An advice for young women entrepreneurs- “There is a phase when women have to contribute a lot to family front and then all the balancing becomes really difficult. You need to have a very good support system. As Indra Nooyi says, the biological and career clock are conflicting when it comes to women. I think that is where we as an organization should be able to support”.